JC Results

antix80 wrote: »

It used to be a qualification. The fact it's was reduced/ twisted to "reaffirm their choices" already made it meaningless.

Agreed....it used to have some substance to it..in science anyway (except for the ridiculous attempt to shoehorn in "project work" i.e.: coursework b....thats the only part of the new "specification" that improved the old JC science syllabus imo (btw we don't say syllabus anymore as it would be wrong to detail exactly what a teacher needs to teach and a student needs to learn now apparently) - + new jargon justifies change for the sake of change

antix80 wrote: »

a weird forcus on academia which for most students means rote learning.. There's nothing to build on for leaving cert.

While I take your point to some extent as the vast majority of young people go through the system and there are huge differences between them (and a one size fits all policy is going to struggle the more diverse the cohort going through it) ...lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater .... most young people still prepare for the JC in a school...it would be weird if there wasn't some sort of focus on academia in my opinion...sort of like if you went to the local marathon club and someone was complaining about the weird focus on aerobic fitness and endurance

unless of course the word academia means something different to the both of us, for me it means

"an environment or community concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship"

and that to me was always one of a schools important functions

it was the focus on other stuff to tick a box or under the guise of so called "reform" that had me bemused

antix80 wrote: »

Just more garbage and a system designed to dole out grades that are meaningless for most for deciding college places

if you are talking about the JC and in particular what it has turned into then regrettably I wholeheartedly agree

if its the LC then its still quite relevant to a lot of students for deciding college places

antix80 wrote: »

60% in anything doesn't mean they know most of it. It means they memorised or cheated or learned off the easy bits.

For a lot of students I agree completely (there are students that 60% is genuinely a major achievement and that shouldn't be forgotten)

the fact that so many able students are delighted with a pass despite the fact they are capable of so much more speaks volumes about the lack of focus on academia now in favour of nebulous horse**** like wellbeing + all the moronic box ticking thats being foisted on the profession by parasitic quangos etc desperate to justify their existence ....

antix80 wrote: »

Id rather see fewer subjects with a focus on making a student competent in something by graduation.

I think I could agree here too however I suspect you will be waiting because schools/the education system is reactive by its very nature ...they have to respond to external pressures and the prevailing culture.....I also suspect the two of us could have very different views on what that would look like ...I for instance would not like a UK style version of this which is even worse than what we have here

Theres not enough support out there for actually expecting people to do something valuable and letting them have that character building experience of telling them they failed when they don't bother making an effort.....the people themselves don't want it.....so they will get what they want (through not caring/engaging/calling the powers that be to order) until they don't want it and do something about it

Ill leave you with the below, well worth a watch for insight into just some of whats been happening in our education system